A visit to Zurich would not be complete unless you’ve checked out this beautiful city.
In fact, most of the tourist landmarks are very close to Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and can be easily seen in a day.
I took the S7 train from Meilen and got to Zurich Center in 20 mins. The ride is beautiful with scenic views of the mountains, lake and lots of vineyards along the way. Train tickets aren’t cheap, a day pass costed me around $18.
I had been to Zurich in 2011, so it was easy for me to walk from the train station towards the old center. I decided to just follow my intuition without relying on the map. I have highlighted some of the areas I’ve visited, thanks to iPhotos I was able to know the district the pic was taken. So, yeah I kinda cheated 😉 If it’s not accurate let’s blame it on iPhotos GPS.
Bahnhofstrasse – Zurich being a financial hub, I saw most of the professional men dressed in Suits, mostly black. During lunch time, just like the locals on lunch break, I picked up a sandwich from a food truck and sat in the park while enjoying the sun.
Niederdorf – lots of restaurants, cafes and boutiques. It’s Zurich so nothing ain’t cheap here.
Oberdorf – from fresh roasted coffee makers, smoker taking a break in a cool courtyard, cafes and beautiful view from the bridge.
Grossmünster – beautiful quaint church with traditional as well as modern stained glasses. Was not supposed to take pics in the church so couldn’t capture the modernistic stained glass 🙁
Rathaus – aka the City Hall
Münsterplatz – Colorful Building’s in this square. As part of a sustainable project, there is currently a garden installation in the square for locals to hangout surrounded by greenery and locals plants.
Lindenhof – I liked this neighborhood because it still has pristine historic architecture, quaint cafes, boutiques and stylish locals.
Altstadt links der Limmat – the harbor from where I took the ferry back to Meilen. It was a pleasant 1 hour ride. I was able to use my all day transit pass even on the ferry.
Langstrasse – Dinner with Satomi –
In the evening, met my yogi friend Satomi, who I had met at the yoga teacher training, for dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant with cool decor and vibe. We had their lavish buffet and capped it with tastings of their yummy dessert. It was no nice to catch with Satomi and hear about how life has been going since our retreat. In fact, today we had much deeper conversations than at our yoga training. That’s the beauty of connections, you never know when you meet someone again and form a strong bond.
Josephstrasse and Langstrasse – is mostly a neighborhood of immigrants. Has a lot of ethnic restaurants and shops from Indian, African, Asian and Middle Eastern.
Wasserwerkstrasse – I was in Zurich enjoying my gelato on a sunny day when I heard from Satomi if I was around, so we met spontaneously by the river for drinks. Was so cool the see the locals jump in the river for a swim. Got to meet Satomi’s friend, Marina, who is a character actress and was rehearsing her script for a Swiss film. When you are spontaneous, you never know who you would cross path with. The sunset was simply stunning as well.
Side day trip to Rapperswil – I wanted to get a feel of a small quaint Swiss town so I decided to go to Rapperswil since it was so close to Zurich and just 20 minutes train ride from my Meilen. I thought my All day pass will be valid until here but that was not the case. The ticket checker was nice and allowed me to ride to Rapperswill without being fined and told me to get another ticket direct to Meilen for my return. The ticket vending machines are not user friendly so make sure to check what zones the pass includes or ask the ticket agents.
From the train station, it was a nice hike to Rathaus square and from there to the Castle. The view from the castle is worth the hike up and you can also meet the deers, checkout the church and have a light bite at a cafe nearby.
Rose garden – was nice to sit in the rose garden until the bees started to bother me.
Before heading back home, I walked midway onto the wooden bridge to enjoy the serenity and view.
Isn’t this a great place to say goodbye to Switzerland as I continue my journey…,
My next stop is back to India for a 10-day silent meditation at Tushita in Dharamshala, so you’ll not hear from me until the first week of October since I’ll have no access to an electronics or internet. What ah me luck 🤗
